


Deference for Darkness

by ActualBampot



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 21:11:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16818532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ActualBampot/pseuds/ActualBampot
Summary: After their clash at the Spider's Den, Neo and Cinder find somewhere to hold up for the night.-A short fluff ficlet taking place after Volume 6 Chapter 5





	Deference for Darkness

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys. Sorry it isn't a White Noise update (yet), but I had to get this fluff off my chest. 
> 
> If you'd like some BGM, this is the soundtrack I pulled inspiration from:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ygvv_Ae3dg
> 
> Enjoy!

When Cinder had finally convinced Neo to yield to a more desirable alternative than clashing in a run down Mistral back-alley until one of their Aura’s broke, she immediately set back into the crowded streets with her skeptical associate in tow. In whatever good faith could be churned from their situation, Cinder allowed her back to be bared to the girl, knowing full well that if the heavy patter of rain should vanish from the rimmed keepsake Neo wore on her head, she would waste no time in razing the ground around her. 

“This will do.” Cinder muttered dryly over her shoulder when stopping outside a run down-looking Inn. It wasn’t comfort that mattered, only that a generous amount of lien for a small room tucked away somewhere would ensure that no questions would be asked. The place didn’t look like it was in any condition to refuse anyway. “After you.”

Neo’s incredulous expression examined Cinder from head to toe for a moment, searching for malicious intent. Cinder couldn’t help but roll her eye. “If I wanted you dead girl, we wouldn’t be standing here freezing.” 

Cinder’s penchant for fire could usually stave away the worst of it, but she could feel this chill seeping in her bones. When Neo finally moved it was to remove her hat, flicking residual rainwater on Cinder’s already soaked shoes before stepping inside. 

Her hot glare followed Neo’s back before she followed suit, refusing to rise to it. 

True to her assumption the lien had been accepted without question by an Innkeeper that looked as brittle as he did frayed and sure enough, the two were directed to the end of a row of doors on the bottom floor. 

Not much could be said for the dusty room. Wooden planks lined all four walls with a single small window fenced behind mesh to feel more like a prison. A small bed was tucked away in shadows in the opposite corner to a small open fireplace, and in the remaining corner was a door she could assume led to an equally shoddy wash room. It wasn’t much, but it was dry, and a place to rest for the night. 

The door behind her squeaked shut, lock dropping in place. There was a quiet huff as Cinder knelt down to get the fire started, she could already sense Neo’s disapproval. “Oh come now. This is hardly the worst place you’ve spent the night.” She countered, salvaging some old wood and kindling from a rack next to the stone mason. 

Her maiden powers made short work of the fire, apparently incentive enough for Neo to stay as she settled with her parasol perched against the bedside, Roman Torchwick’s hat hanging precariously from the handle. The happy couple would be taking the bed then. 

The two silently shed their soaking clothes to hang adjacent to the fire to dry, Cinder feeling the chill biting through her skin. Neo busied herself around the room for a short time, an investigation into drawers and cupboards managed to produce a single robe for herself before she perched on the end of the bed with her knees drawn to her chest. Waiting. 

It wasn’t that Cinder hadn’t undressed in the presence of someone before, but a lot had changed since the fall of Beacon. She had changed, and she’d be a fool if she truly believed Neo hadn’t noticed. If anything she was meticulous in her attention to detail. 

“Ruby and her friends are bound for Atlas on marked transport. They won't be hard to find.” 

Cinder claimed a chair from the side of the room, spinning it on it's leg to face the fireplace under Neo's attentive eye. Dressed down as far as her undershirt and capri-pants was enough to feel naked beneath the metronome of pink and brown that followed her as she sat. 

She was getting tired of it. “We can discuss details tomorrow.” Her tone wasn’t deliberately hard, but had those mismatched eyes fallen anywhere but her bandaged arm, Cinder might not have visually recoiled as much as she did. 

Cinder turned to the fire, tucking her arm close to her side and out of sight. The sound of Neo relenting, covers shifting somewhere in the background was an odd relief and for the first time since their scuffle, Cinder’s shoulders sagged, letting her head fall over the back of the chair to let a few vertebrae crack. 

The fire wasn’t quite enough to rid Cinder of the chills, however it was better than the alternative. Clashing at the Spider’s hideout had put some important things into perspective, the most impeding that even after a week she was still in no condition to fight.

Matching toe for toe with another Maiden had stretched limits Cinder didn’t realise existed. Not only of her ability to fight; Had it not been for Neo she would have travelled to Atlas, thrown herself at Ruby and her friends with only red in her vision. 

She plucked at the bandages encasing her left arm, briefly glancing behind her shoulder at the mound of Neo’s unmoving form before pulling them loose. They were tied extra tight, and Cinder couldn’t help a pleased hum of relief as the fabric fully unravelled onto the floor.  
Throwing them next to her drying robes she indulged in a long stretched before-

“Neo?”

The girl was suddenly in front of her, robe and blanket cocooned everything from the neck down. Brown matched with white, brows gathered together. It wouldn’t have mattered for Cinder to try to hide the inhuman appendage, as the girl’s frown told her she had been standing there for much, much longer than Cinder knew. 

Neo was staring at it, wearing an expression hung somewhere between shock and contemplation, as if deciding what to say. 

Cinder raised an eyebrow if only to feign how tension pulled taught across shoulders. She had killed the last person unfortunate enough to see her arm, and if only at the memory the bone claws on her hand began to extend. 

And suddenly, the pensive glare was gone. Neo simply rolled her eyes when she blinked back to a steady duel of chocolate brown and shuffled to the woman’s side on the flats on her feet. 

It was Cinder’s turn to still in shock, jaw slightly falling from place, searching Neo’s face for something she wouldn’t find. Instead the girl hopped into the vacant space in Cinder’s lap with her legs dangling off to the side. 

Cinder would have been about ready to commit murder had her jaw not fallen the rest of the way to the floor. “WHAT are you-”

“Shh” Neo looked up as if Cinder had just interrupted something exceedingly important and pressed her index to the woman’s lips. 

Every molecule in her being ordered to shove the girl off, not to lift her hands away from her as she shuffled and squirmed around for a moment to get… comfortable?  
She pulled the blanket from around her to drape over them both, Cinder only now noticing how much Neo was shivering beneath it. 

Heat boiled from Cinder’s neck up to her cheeks as she looked aimlessly around herself, unsure of how exactly to deal with the predicament before her. She could hardly imagine Raven Branwen crawling into her lap after a fight-

A grip closed around her Grimm arm, and every hair on Cinder’s body stood on end only to have any protest completely and utterly ignored. Neo pulled the limb around her, pressing her face into the side of Cinder’s neck with nothing but a small sigh bringing goosebumps to the surface of her skin. 

Neo knew when to weigh her options, and when to draw a stalemate, but it seemed she feared nothing. Or that there was simply nothing left for her to fear. For that, she would have to have something left to lose. 

Cinder’s chest eventually stopped stuttering, and the girl seemed to appreciate the steady rise and fall when her small hand rose to curl around the hem of her shirt. Amber bore into flames for a long, contemplative moment, the fire beside them crackled softly into the silence. 

When Cinder was sure the form pressed against her felt real her arm tightened, drawing Neo in closer to her chest. She turned to rest her scarred cheek on a damp mass of pink and brown, breathing in bitter sweetness and the lingering smell of rainfall. 

It wasn’t much, but perhaps for one night, it would be enough for both of them.


End file.
